


to lie in someone's arms

by andsoiaccidentally



Category: The Fall (TV)
Genre: Christmas, F/F, Family, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2016-01-05
Packaged: 2018-05-07 07:59:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5449247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andsoiaccidentally/pseuds/andsoiaccidentally
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stella and Reed meet for another drink. Things happen differently, this time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [noblenymphadora](https://archiveofourown.org/users/noblenymphadora/gifts).



> i wrote this last year, before this account existed, for my dear friend han. they've already posted what they wrote for me, please go and check it out. we're doing another fic exchange this year so look out for that.
> 
> (the title, which i have changed from the original, is from 'give it a go' by molotov jukebox)

Stella Gibson smartens her silk shirt in front of the mirror, thankful that no one can see her heart trying to escape from her ribcage beneath it. Nervousness is something she generally associates with coming face to face with a serial killer, except that she’s off-duty tonight, and meeting Reed in some unfamiliar bar. Reed, the thought of whom has successfully managed to send Stella into a panic, practising her words in her head and replaying scenarios that might never happen. This is ridiculous, she tells herself time and time again but at this moment she just can’t rationalise her thoughts. She has never felt like this around anyone before, nor has she ever wanted someone this much. Stella’s never been one for relationships, preferring one night stands followed by a termination of all contact but Reed is proving to be the exception to this rule. She’s certainly never ended a night with no more than a kiss before and it’s a kiss she can’t stop thinking about.

Stella gets to the bar before Reed and picks a seat in the corner, mostly concealed from the eyes of others. She gets herself a drink for courage, and downs it in one, letting the alcohol burn away the last of the December night’s chill. She waits in apprehension of the other woman’s arrival and when she does see her figure in the doorway her breath hitches oddly in her throat. Reed is dressed in black from head to toe, her dark hair loose over her shoulders and making her way over to where Stella is sat. 

“Hey,” she slips in to the seat beside her, a small smile twitching in the corner of her mouth. Stella is only slightly reassured by the fact that she’s nervous too.

“Hi,” comes her automatic reply, “Would you like a drink?” 

Whilst she’s ordering Reed a drink at the bar, Stella starts to overthink things again. She’s putting herself in a situation where she’s bound to get hurt again, but a surprisingly large part of her doesn’t mind. Reed has made it perfectly clear that she doesn’t feel like Stella does, so she’s just setting herself up for heartbreak. It’s illogical to think that Reed might be worth that pain, but that’s exactly how she feels. It was a bad idea for her to ever agree to this in the first place yet here she is. She picks up two glasses, carries them across to the table and as she sits herself back down she knows that she’s just going to have to go with the flow.

Their chatter isn’t quite awkward for the first few drinks but it’s clear that there’s something they’re avoiding. The conversation continues to drift back to work and Rose Stagg and Stella begins wishing they could talk about anything else. The guilt she’s feeling isn’t doing anything to put her at ease and she’s sure the same can be said for Reed. They’ve spoken about more cheerful matters whilst stood over a corpse. She doesn’t begin to relax until she’s on her fourth drink and Reed’s on her third. 

Until the other woman pipes up with: “What are you doing next week?” 

“Working.” Stella replies in a split second because she hasn’t even considered doing anything else.

“On Christmas day?” The pathologist stares, horrified but Stella just sighs.

“We’ve got to be one step ahead of Paul Spector. Even if he takes a day off, I can’t afford to,” she admits.

Reed continues to press her. “Surely one day wouldn’t hurt? You could, you know, come to mine?”

“I… I…” Stella is taken aback, “I couldn’t possibly impose myself upon you like that. Your family…”

“It’s just me and the girls this year and I couldn’t bear for you to be lonely.”  
“I don’t mind being lonely.”

“Well, I mind for you. Say you’ll come.” She tilts her head slightly, a small smile turning up the corners of her mouth. Stella allows herself to be convinced.

“Okay, I’ll come.”

“Good, my girls are so excited to meet you.”

“Have you spoken to them about me?”

“A little.”

“What have you said?”

“Nothing bad, honestly.”

“But you have told them about me?” If Stella is truthful with herself, she’s flattered.

“They… Well, the kind of have… I told them that you fight bad guys. And now they think you’re Ireland’s answer to the Black Widow… My eldest loves the Avengers, you see.”

A smile creeps on to Stella’s lips and half a laugh escapes. Reed looks bewildered and it occurs to Stella that she might have never seen her like this before.

“What?” The pathologist inquires, her voice confused.

“Nothing, it’s just that that’s so far from the truth but it’s still adorable.” Reed smiles too, at this.

***

“I really should get going,” Reed’s watch shows the time to be hurtling towards midnight.

“Me too,” Stella replies, although she has nowhere particularly to be.

Wordlessly they shrug on their coats and walk towards the door together. It’s only when they are hovering beneath the porch that Stella realises she doesn’t want to leave.

“That was nice.” Stella echoes her own words.

“Yes it was,” Reed laughs, “We should do this again some time.”

“Does next Thursday sound good to you?”

“I’ll have to check my diary but I’m pretty sure I’m free.”

“Thank god, I’m not sure when else I could fit you in,” Stella jokes, eyes fixed on the other woman. 

But Reed isn’t looking at her, she’s focussed on something a few feet above Stella’s head, struggling to supress a grin. Stella looks up.

She isn’t sure who initiates the kiss but within a second of seeing the mistletoe their lips are touching and it’s more than Stella could have wished for. When Reed pulls away, though, there’s a worrying sadness in her eyes. 

“What’s the matter?”

“I’m sorry…” Stella holds her breath in fear of Reed walking away again, but she doesn’t move. Stella doesn’t ask her to elaborate but she does, “… About last time I mean. I’d never… it’s not that I hadn’t thought about it, about us, before but I wasn’t expecting it, when you kissed me and I’ve never done anything like that before and I thought I could just relax and go with the flow but I couldn’t. It was too fast for me, I’m sorry…” She trails off, her dark eyes large and scrutinising Stella for a reaction.

“It’s okay.” 

This clearly isn’t the one she’s expecting. “Pardon?”

“It’s okay. I rushed you and I shouldn’t have. I knew that I was making you uncomfortable but I acted on a selfish whim.”

“I wasn’t uncomfortable exactly, not kissing you.”

“You weren’t?” The words slipped from Stella in surprise.

“No, else why would I have kissed you again.”

“I suppose that’s logical,” she smiles, reaching out to tuck a stray hair back behind Reed’s ear.

And all of a sudden they’re kissing once more, in the doorway of a bar in central Belfast where the entire city can see them. The passers-by and the cold don’t bother Reed, not when she has one hand on Stella’s waist and the other in her hair. They bother Stella even less; even a harsh wolf whistle from the other side of the street can’t divert her attention. At that moment it was just her and Reed, beneath the mistletoe one night in December.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> despite her misgivings, stella turns up at reed's door on christmas day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i said it wasn't going to be a sequel. but i reread the last chapter and i felt compelled to write this. sorry for the late update, blame technology, coursework and a slight brooklyn nine-nine obsession.  
> (but yes, it's still acceptable for me to post christmas fics since we're within the 12 days of christmas (just))
> 
> as always this fic is dedicated to the incredible beth, who i actually got to meet multiple times in 2015.

Stella Gibson still hasn’t conquered her initial nervousness over Tanya Reed Smith. She’s standing in the other woman’s doorway, it’s early afternoon on Christmas day and she’s uncomfortably dressed down in jeans and a jumper beneath her thick, wool-blend coat. _Turn around now,_ a voice in her head urges, _you’ve still got time to run, tell her something came up at work._ But all thoughts of fleeing are accompanied by a flash of wide, sad eyes, so deep brown that they’re almost black. Stella stays. Carefully and controlled, she reaches up for the brass knocker and lets it drop three times. She can hear childish squealing from inside the house and her initial dread floods back to her. She isn’t used to children, at least not in this context. She can handle them under the premise of a case, but no amount of questioning can set her up for a casual situation. She takes a deep breath.

The door opens to reveal Reed, smiling, with two tiny dark-haired girls peeking out from behind her legs. She pulls Stella into a hug before she can protest and the detective takes a few seconds to react, waving her hands around in thin air before finally settling them on Reed’s back. 

“It’s good to see you,” Reed beams. She’s wearing a red, subtly Christmas-themed jumper, Stella notices, and her daughters are in similar attire. She beckons Stella inside the house and takes her bag and coat, hanging them on hooks by the door.

Stella laughs, a little nervously. “It’s good to see you too.”

Reed turns to the girls. “Girls, this is mummy’s friend Stella.”

“Merry Christmas, Stella,” says the tallest, whom Stella estimates to be about six years old.

The smallest, probably two years younger, just whispers: “Hello.”

This is Ella,” Reed gestures to the oldest girl and Ella gives a small smile and a wave in Stella’s direction. “And this is Olivia.” Reed’s youngest daughter buries herself in the fabric of her mother’s jumper. “She’s a bit shy.”

They make their way down the hallway, with Reed explaining that the turkey is almost done. She offers Stella some wine and a seat in the living room. The blonde woman accepts both offers and settles herself in an armchair beside the tree, trying to make herself comfortable. Whilst their mother is in the kitchen, Ella and Olivia hover nervously in the doorway, unsure as to how to approach this strange newcomer. Meanwhile, Stella examines the Christmas decorations, trying to think of something, anything, to say. A cardboard star catches her eye, it’s messily covered in gold and green glitter, but as she reaches one hand up to touch it, it spins rather prettily in the light. 

“Did you make this?” The question isn’t directed at either girl specifically, but it’s Olivia who nods. “It’s beautiful.” Stella adds, earning a shy smile from the smaller girl, directed at the ground rather than the guest.

“Thank you,” comes a small voice, “I made it at nursery.”

“You’re obviously very talented,” Stella says softly. Olivia tries to hide her beaming with a tiny hand.

“Stella?” The elder sister pipes up.

“Yes, Ella?”

“I made the mince pies, would you like to try one?”

At that moment Reed comes through the door, balancing two glasses of red wine for Stella in each hand. “No mince pies before lunch, Ells, but I’m sure Stella would love to try one afterwards.”

Stella confirms this.

Reed tells her daughters to go upstairs and lay with their presents and they oblige. She then hands Stella her wine and curls up on the sofa, glass in hand, observing the other woman.

“God,” she exclaims, breaking the moment of silence, “you look exhausted. Did you sleep at all last night?”

Stella shakes her head. “Not really. I had a lot to get done”

“It’s okay, you know, to have a day off. You need to rest. You’ve been working so hard you’re at risk of your work becoming your whole life.”

“I don’t see that as a problem,” she states, her tone flat. “Work was my life before I arrived here but Belfast has changed me a little. It won’t hurt me to go back to how I lived before.”

“Maybe not, but have you ever considered the possibility that it might hurt me.”

Stella is so close to dropping her glass that for a minute she really does see it drop, wine spilling out all over Reed’s cream carpet.

The dark haired woman continues, getting a little bolder. “I want to be part of your life, Stella. That is, if you’ll let me.”

This isn’t how Stella Gibson does things. She doesn’t form romantic attachments. At least, she never has, before now. She puts her glass down and gets up, moving to sit beside Reed on the sofa. The pathologist uncurls her feet and turns herself towards her. Stella says nothing, but she does lace her fingers through Reed’s, resting her blonde head against the dark one that has come to rest on her shoulder.

They resume the same position after lunch, full and slightly tipsy, as Ella and Olivia make their dolls and action figures act out a dramatic scene. The performance ends with Ella’s Black Widow action figure saving the life of one of Olivia’s dolls and the two of them riding off into the sunset. It’s not exactly your traditional fairy tale, Stella thinks, but it’s lovely nonetheless. She feels at home here, accepted by Reed and her daughters, and she begins to consider perhaps not returning to London after they close the Spector case. She’s so used to having one night stands and leaving, but this time she thought she’d missed her chance but ended up, for however long it might be for, with a family. 

Darkness draws in quickly and soon both girls begin to yawn, exhausted from the excitement of their day. Reed takes them both upstairs and puts them to bed. Then she joins Stella in the living room once more.

“I guess we’re alone,” she whispers, wrapping her arms around Stella’s waist and pulling her in for a kiss. It’s slow and tender, as though they have all the time in the world and when they pull apart they’re still close enough for their foreheads to rest against each other.

“What do you want to do now?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” the corners of Reed’s mouth twist up into a suggestive smile and she creates enough distance between the two of them for Stella to see that her pupils are blown wide. She takes a step forward; Stella takes a step back. Then another, until the backs of her legs are pressed against a sofa cushion. She drops quickly into a sitting position and Reed follows, placing one knee either side of her thighs. Stella angles her head up so Reed’s hair falls around them like a curtain.

“Merry Christmas,” she breathes into the space between them before their lips meet again.


End file.
